Exterior cleaning with a drone in Istanbul

Drones, which are used in every aspect of our lives from wars to cargo transportation, are now being utilized for exterior cleaning. Sarper Sılaoğlu, the owner of a research and development company, stated, “Since the demand arose due to cleaning, we started with exterior washing. Currently, our newest project is focused on fire extinguishing.”
Drones used for various purposes in many countries around the world are performing exterior cleaning with a project developed by a research and development firm in Turkey. The company is working on a fire extinguishing project to quickly intervene in increasing forest fires during the summer months. In the exterior cleaning project, there is a cleaning head and hose integrated onto the drone. The hose can perform the drone flight while being connected to the ground station. The drone first applies a specially prepared cleaning foam to the surface. Then, the area where the foam has been applied is cleaned with pressurized water. A 15-story building of 2000 square meters can be cleaned in one day with the drone. With the help of climbers or cranes, this duration can extend to 2-3 days.
“We are starting to work on fire extinguishing”
Sarper Sılaoğlu, the owner of the research and development company within the Istanbul Technical University Technopark, stated, “The cleaning project with drones has emerged entirely out of necessity. Building and facility management companies are facing safety problems. There are applications that need to be done with an elevator, crane, or climber. This is slow and takes a long time in terms of performance. They came to us because of these problems. We worked on solutions together with academic advisors. We worked on drones and machines and finally managed to develop an integrated machine. The most important feature of the drone, which is connected to a ground station, is its ability to work at height. Since the demand arose due to cleaning, we started with exterior washing. Cleaning solar panels, preventing icing at wind energy plants, and currently, our newest project is focused on fire extinguishing. With its battery on the drone, it can stay in the air for 45 minutes, but when we receive energy from the ground station, we can fly for as long as we want. We can clean a 15-story building in one day. This amounts to a surface area of 2000 square meters, while climbers finish it in 2-3 days. When citizens see it, they bump into each other while walking. Our new national sport is watching drone cleaning,” he concluded.